I am attempting a pair of slippers from a book I picked up at costco- I was doing great until I got to this abbreviation "(K1,K1b)" and it is explained as follows-
"K1b= knit into the next st one row below, slipping st above off left needle (this creates fisherman's rib pattern)"
It is just about as clear as mud to me!
But, do they mean to knit the bar in b/w the st?
I am confused because then slipping the next stitch off would create a dropped stitch, right?
I am tempted to just garter stitch it and forget the whole rib thing...

No, it means inserting your needle into the stitch below the one on the needle as if it were the next stitch. It doens't make a dropped stitch, but two strands of yarn over the stitch.

An easy way to do this pattern is to do the first row as k1,p1. On all the other rows, k1, k1b all the way across, ending with k1. You don't have to purl at all and because of the k1b, it comes out like a purled rib on the other side.

O.k., so you pick up the part of the stitch that looks like a purl? (i had to knit the 4 rows prior to this one) do you wrap the yarn? If i pick up that "purl" and knit that, then i just let the next loop go? am i making this alot more difficult than it is?

i have to go to bed- hopefully my "eureka" moment will come in the morning...

That's why we're here. And I agree - it's so much easier to *show* something to a person than to describe it in words.

sue

Yeah, its SO much easier that way, I'm a visual person myself, I have to see how its done to be able to do it. Thats why I love the videos on this site as well. Reading how to cast on I did it differently than watching the video on it.